Ounga, also known as Younga and Jounga, is an archaeological site on the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia, located south of Sfax along the Mediterranean coast. The area is also known for its oil fields.

History

Ounga was a Phoenician and

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

colony under the name ( xpu, 𐤌𐤒𐤌𐤇𐤃𐤔, , "New Place"). The coastal town was the intersection of the road from Carthage to Tacape and the road branching off to Sufetula. After the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and i ...

, the area fell under Roman control. The name was latinized to Macomades. It was variously distinguished from the

Macomades Macomades was a Carthaginian and Roman city in North Africa. It was located near present-day Oum-El-Bouaghi, Algeria History Macomades was established as an inland Punic trading post under the name ( xpu, 𐤌𐤒𐤌𐤀, "Place"). It was a ...

in present-day Algeria as ("Lesser Macomades") during the early empire and as , Iunca, Lunci, or Lunca under the later empire.Iunca in Byzacena
at GCatholic.org The name of the city changed in the 4th century. In ancient times, Ounga was the site of Christian activity that produced various religious buildings. Accordingly, it maintained relations with other cities such as Carthage. Historians, such as Tunisian archaeologist Zainab Benzina, state that a representative of the city of Younga, the bishop Valentinianus, attended the

Council of Carthage (412) The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Carthage in Africa. The most important of these are described below. Synod of 251 In May 251 a synod, assembled under the presidency of Cypria ...

. In addition, the city hosted a provincial council in 524. Remains of the Roman town include three Byzantine basilicas, city ramparts, a citadel, a vaulted

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

and

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

s. Some of the remains show

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

influence. The citadel was identified in 1944 by French archaeologist Louis Poinsot as the place described by

Arab geographer Medieval Islamic geography and cartography refer to the study of geography and cartography in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age (variously dated between the 8th century and 16th century). Muslim scholars made advances to the map-maki ...

Al Bakri Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...

and

Al-Idrissi Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي; la, Dreses; 1100 – 1165), was a Muslim geographer, cartogra ...

under the name of Kasr er-Roum (Castle of the Romans). It was transformed in the 9th century by the

Aghlabids The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a cen ...

, who modified the upper part of the walls. Poinssot identifies Younga as the new name of the city of Macomades Minores, also called Macomades Lunci or Lunca. The discovery in 1936 of a fragment of a milestone from the mid-3rd century close to Younga definitively confirmed the relationship.

Bishopric

Ounga was the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of an ancient Latin Catholic diocese, about which little is known. A

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

took place on the site after the Muslim conquest of the MaghrebJonathan Conant, ''Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean 439-700'' (Cambridge University Press, 2012) p100 and another in 523 AD. A Christian monastery was founded in the town around 500 AD. Two bishops are known: *

Verecundus of Iunca Verecundus ( fl. 552) was a 6th-century writer and the bishop of Iunca (or Junca) in Roman North Africa (the modern Tunisia). He was an ardent champion of the Three Chapters. Life Verecundus attended the Synod in Constantinople of 551 called b ...

*Valentinianus, who attended the

, as above The bishopric survives today as a titular bishopric, which has been vacant since the departure of the last bishop, Marcel Roger Buyse, in 2008.

Fortress

Bordj Younga The remains of the Byzantine fort known as Bordj Younga are noted for their excellent condition.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . {{Phoenician cities and colonies, state=collapsed Populated places in Tunisia Archaeology of Tunisia Catholic titular sees in Africa Phoenician colonies in Tunisia